Remembrance Sunday reflections

On this Remembrance Sunday I’m reflecting on the First World War and the national commemorations which commenced three years ago.

It seems ages since the launch of the poppies installation at The Tower of London. And yet, in real time the war still has another year to run and the influenza pandemic which affected an estimated 500 million people worldwide has hardly begun.

The clip is a shocking representation of the number of lives lost in just one battle of World War 1 and I’ve listened to it several times in the last three years.

In January 2014 I started my own family history commemoration of the First World War.

During the first two years of World War One but 100 years later, I explored the lives of all our ancestors who were alive during that era. If you share Murray, Magnus, Joseph, Starling, Ashworth, Buckle, Smith or Barratt surnames amongst your ancestors you might like to read about ours at Writing a Family History: First World War Stories.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningWe will remember them.

Did you know that this well-known verse is part of a longer poem “For the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon? I didn’t, although I’ve heard the famous lines many times. I think this setting of the words is a suitable note on which to say thanks for reading my blog today.